A push to allow new financing options for renewable energy such as solar panels got a push back from Georgia Power.

On Monday, state Sen. Buddy Carter removed an amendment he had attached to SB 459 allowing third party power purchase agreements. Such agreements, prohibited in only four states including Georgia, allow homeowners, businesses and nonprofits to buy electricity from a company that harvests solar from their property.

“What happened over the weekend was that Georgia Power flexed its muscle and influenced the vote,” Carter said.

When Carter saw two ‘yes’ and two ‘maybe’ votes in the Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee turn to no, he pulled the amendment from the bill, which then moved forward with its original intent of allowing consumers to opt out of smart meter installation.

Carter’s first bill on the issue, SB 401 is still “buried in the Natural Resources Committee,” he said. He doesn’t expect it to get a hearing there. But the Pooler Republican hasn’t ruled out amending the language to another bill.

“There’s the possibility of another vehicle we could attach it to,” he said. “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

Spokeswoman Lynn Wallace said Georgia Power opposes the suggested financing deals because they drive up rates for other customers.

“The third party solar renewable generators, they’re putting panels up and generating electricity but they’re not paying for the infrastructure,” she said. “Georgia Power customers pay for the infrastructure.”

That argument doesn’t hold sway with Colleen Kiernan, the Georgia chapter director of the Sierra Club.

“The argument that they cost more for everybody else doesn’t make any sense,” she said, “especially given the limitation on the size of systems that currently exist. At the scale we’re talking about that’s 10 kilowatt residential or 100 kilowatt commercial. At pretty much anything under 2 megawatts you’re not affecting the transmission system in a way the power company has to plan for.” Given that the sun doesn’t always shine, the third party customers will continue to be Georgia Power customers who are supporting that infrastructure, Kiernan said. “The change is not going to be substantial,” she said.

Carter’s original bill, which remains in committee, has bipartisan co-sponsors from around the state, including Senate President Pro Tem Tommie Williams, R-Lyons. The idea has wide popular support, too. A Sierra Club action alert on the issue brought a record response, with 650 members telling their state senators they supported the bill, Kiernan said.

Power purchase companies both in and out of Georgia would like the Peach State’s law to change to allow them to do business here.

Kerenia Cusick is director of government relations for SunEdison, a Beltsville, Md.-based company that holds $3.5 billion worth of solar assets around the world, mainly in power purchase agreements.

Cusick and others in the solar industry say the purchase agreements are merely a financing mechanism, and they’re the most desirable one for homeowners and business owners. They’re better than leases, which Georgia Power has suggested as an already acceptable alternative, Cusick said.

“In a lease if something happens to the system (the homeowner) is still responsible for making payments,” Cusick said.

She also rejects the rate argument.

“Saying it will increase rates is flat out false,” Cusick said. “How does allowing an opportunity to finance another way increase rates for anybody else?”

Carter said he’s puzzled by what seems like a missed opportunity.

“I’m really baffled by Georgia Power,” Carter said. “To me they ought to be driving this train, leasing these panels. They ought to be taking the lead on this.

“Why don’t they install solar panels and lease them back to people? They’re pushing conservation. They’re trying to get people to utilize power better, to save on bills. This is a renewable, clean form of energy.”

It’s a thought that’s also occurred to Dr. Sidney Smith, a Savannah dermatologist who Carter cites as his inspiration for the bill. Smith’s solar company, Lower Rates for Customers, erected a pole-mounted solar array in the parking lot of the Driftaway Cafe last and began selling them electricity last month at a rate 1 percent lower than Georgia Power’s.

Smith, who also operates the state’s first solar farm, is planning to meet with a local EMC next month to pitch his vision for solar in Georgia.

“What a game changer that would be if Georgia Power were to get left out of an emerging business opportunity,” Smith wrote in an email.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for
following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and
comments do not reflect the views of this site. Posts and comments are
automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some
comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules,
click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.

Its like " water company's " building treatment plants, and pumping into the Aquifer. They don't have to deal with thousands of miles of pipe, crossing rivers, highways, and OPS ( other peoples stuff, like buried electrical, FIBER and sewer ) or...home owners and their driveways, taste and odor complaints, ( when you are the only one in the neighborhood....its usually your own problem ) No I don't think I need to help make Ga.Power be the collection agency and entire front office staff for a " start up solar elect co ".

The Driftaway Cafe installation does not pass thru anything of Georgia Power's. It only reduces what they already use. If we can reduce the peak load and work towards using renewables to meet future increased needs, we will NOT need new coal plants or the new EXPENSIVE nuclear plant. Then we can REDUCE everyone's electric bill to 2010 rates.

For a country that prides itself on courage and ingenuity, we are certainly afraid of change here. I agree that this small change could have unforeseen consequences . . . but unlike Ga. Power and the naysayers, I believe that overwhelming GOOD consequences will smother any that are not-so-good.

Rest assured Tybeenian, the MONOPOLY Moguls at Georgia Power will NEVER collect any funds they don't KEEP! We Georgia citizens have subsidize this cash glutton monster for over 40 years...
Their appetite for unwarranted rate hikes & obscene profiteering at the expense of others has reached intolerable proportions.Fair trade practices and competition are LONG overdue, it's high time those politicians elected to serve OUR best interest begin to do so! Open Georgia's energy market to ALL comers, free markets ALWAYS produces lower rates for consumers...

While we $ave, the value added benefit is that toxic waste from MORE Nuclear plant expansion.... need NOT occur :)